Dive Brief:
- TV programmers have been calling for and are finally beginning to negotiate increased branding with Netflix, saying the goal is to remind viewers from where the content originally came.
- One example is a four second pre-roll shot of Emmy award winning actress Viola Davis, the ABC logo along with the Thursday night theme music that runs before episodes of “How to Get Away With Murder” are streamed on Netflix.
- Meanwhile, earlier this year Netflix assured viewers it wasn’t going to run third-party ads after showing trailers for its original content after some programming.
Dive Insight:
After Disney/ABC TV Group negotiated a pre-roll branding short that is shown before episodes of “How to Get Away With Murder” are streamed on Netflix, it’s doing the same for other Disney-owned properties on the service.
A Disney/ABC TV Group spokesman told the Wall Street Journal, “Netflix is a valued distributor that now provides robust cross-promotional opportunities for our networks and our series. It’s a win-win for both sides.”
Giving TV programmers credit for the original source has been a bone of contention with media executives.
John Landgraf, chief executive of 21st Century Fox’s FX Networks unit, said at an industry luncheon last year, “One of the things that bothers me about Netflix is they make darn sure when they make an original series like 'Orange is the Black' or 'House of Cards' that is identified with the phrase 'A Netflix Original Series.' They are equally staunch about totally stripping AMC off of 'Mad Men' or FX off of 'Sons of Anarchy.'”